Page 25 of Blood Lost

I put Delilah’s bag of clothes on her bed and took mine into my room. I started putting the items away in the small dresser, carefully folding each one. I would have to pay Eli back for this. Most of mine was plain, but that suited me. Vik’s had been the suits he was so fond of, and Eli’s had been a mixture of dress clothes and t-shirts. I wondered if Delilah had a preference or even cared what we wore. I wouldn’t get a chance to ask her because Eli had already gone into her room after I left. It didn’t matter. I needed to cool off. I would have my time with her later. I just needed to convince myself that the three of us were on equal footing here. But were we, really? I couldn’t help but wonder.

I’d never felt so insecure before in any relationship. I guess this was a brand-new situation. Now I had to decide if I wanted to stay in it or head back to my previous life. Ha! My previous life was so long ago I would never be able to go back.

A human kid so jealous of his wolf best friend that he would actively seek out vampires to turn him—what a joke. I don’t know what I would have done if Kayden hadn’t stopped me the first time. I would have been sixteen forever. That would have made a lot of things more difficult. I already had some trouble running my zone because I look young. Being ruthless was the only thing that got me by. Now I had to be intelligent and relentless to get what I wanted.

While grumbling to myself, I noticed Eli standing in my doorway, watching. “Hey, man. Did you need something?” I wasn’t upset with him, so there was no reason to take it out on him.

“I was hoping you’d take one for the team and help Vik with dinner once you’re done here. I’ll owe you one. I need to talk to Delilah about some stuff.” I had no reason to think he was up to something, so I nodded. If spending time with the guy who hates me was what I had to do to prove that I cared for Delilah, that’s what I would do.

Chapter 30

Eli

I knew Declan was still pissed about Vik punching him, mainly because he didn’t get to fight back. At some point, the two of them would fight it out. I just hoped no one got seriously hurt. Neither of them seemed to be the type to pull punches. Pitting two dangerous men against each other was a bad idea. Which meant I would have to run interference as much as possible. I had my clothes tucked away before the others made it back to the living area, so I waited for Delilah. I needed to make sure she was okay. And she deserved to know what had happened, whether the others wanted to tell her or not.

She carefully folded her clothes and selected where to put them as I watched her. I knew that I should say something, but I enjoyed watching. “Are you going to stand there staring at me, or are you coming inside?” The irritation in her voice made me jump.

“Are you okay, love? You sound angry.” I stepped forward slowly. I wasn’t sure what she was mad about or directed at someone specific.

“I am angry. At all of you. At myself.” She paused and looked into my eyes. Tears shone in hers. “I know what happened. I remember. Why didn’t you tell me?”

I knew she would be upset. I hadn’t expected her to remember on her own. “To be fair, you broke up a fistfight and sent us off to get the supplies right after you woke up.” She growled at my words. I knew there was no easy way out of this one. “We were going to tell you. That’s actually what I came here for.”

I held out a hand, and she took it gingerly, letting me pull her toward me. Once she was in my arms, I held her close. “I know you’re upset, and rightly so. What happened was horrible. But you weren’t in control. I’m not sure how you were drugged or why. I promise you I will find out who is responsible for this, and they will pay.” She relaxed a little and tilted her head up to look at me.

“Why do you guys care so much about me? I’m nothing special.” Her words were quiet but doubt permeated them. She was feeling as insecure as we were. It had to be because she still didn’t have all of her memories back.

“Do you remember anything about me from before?” I asked, testing the theory.

“A little. I remember you hurting my arm before Vik cut off your hand. I remember you saving me from a mugger, and I remember you cornering me in a small room. I’m not sure where or why.” She stared at me, puzzling what I was getting at.

“With those few memories that aren’t good, by the way, you’ve decided that you want me, and you trust me. Why is that?” I wondered what she’d say in response.

“Because my soul swears that you’re mine.” The words fell from her lips like velvet against my ears. I swept her up into my arms and kissed her with wild abandon. I wanted nothing more than to take her back to my room and show her how special she was. But since a “family” dinner had been my idea, I didn’t think Vik and Declan would appreciate it if we ran out on them. It was bad enough I had left them alone in the kitchen, forcing them to work together to cook our food.

“Do you want to help me with something while they make dinner?” I needed to check news feeds and see if we were being hunted or if Vik was utterly paranoid. I didn’t want Delilah to know, but she was stronger than we’d thought. I knew she’d be able to handle it.

“Sure. Does it involve taking off our clothes?” She ran her fingers up my chest as she talked, then cupped my jaw and pulled me down to her for another kiss.

“I’m definitely up for that after dinner. Right now, I need to look for some info on the computer. I thought maybe you’d like to help me set up the burner phones while I work.” I hated turning down her offer, but knowing how careful we needed to be out here was important. If she didn’t want to help, I would have to get Dec to distract her while I got everything done.

She nodded. “I’m going to hold you to that promise.” Delilah followed me out to the living area, where I had set up the computers. I figured with four of us here; we would need more than one. I pulled the boxes of phones out of the desk drawer and started opening them. Delilah pulled a chair over next to me.

“So, what do I do?” She asked, picking up one of the phones.

“You’re going to make sure each of the four phones has the other three numbers in it. You get to decide who gets which one. Scott decided that having different color cases would be a good idea to help us tell them apart since they’re the same phone type. Pick a case for each one, figure out who you want to have each color, then put the numbers in with our names. Easy.” I hoped that she didn’t think I was giving her grunt work, but the way she smiled when I said she got to choose our colors made me think I’d done something good.

“Got it. Can I have a sheet of paper and a pen to write the colors and numbers on to sort out who gets what and make putting the numbers in easier?”

“Of course. Paper and pens are here.” I showed her where they’d been put away, then left her to her task. I needed to get searches up and running. I slid the chair over to one of the computers, leaving a little space between us, so she wasn’t right over my shoulder. Then I double-checked the secure connection to ensure the whole thing was operating incognito. Once I was sure we couldn’t be traced, I searched news outlets.

It didn’t take long to find what I’d been looking for. The news was reporting a suspicious death, but there were no suspects yet. There were very few details released, so I checked several more sources. The vampire network said that the hunters were looking into a human murder, and it was clear that it was the same one the humans were reporting on.

I was worried that someone Vik had scared off would remember us, and the hunters would have their lead. I followed the stories to get updates on my phone when the death was discussed again. After making sure we were safe for now, I composed an email to Scott with instructions about what to tell people regarding my quick disappearance, including a story to leak to the press as well as an official statement that I left town on business. He would know not to use any of it unless someone commented on my absence. They would provide the official apology and statement to current clients, and I would either meet with them via video call or reschedule.

Chapter 31

Delilah

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